Archive for the ‘hermetic’ Tag

I recently did some work for Judith Page on her upcoming book of angel meditations and rituals. She wanted me to translate some phrases into the Angelical Language, double-check her Enochian information and even to write a preface for the book.

Along with that, she also asked if I knew where she could find the Grand Seal of the 10×10 Khamea of Earth. There are a couple of examples of that Khamea out there – the one she chose is pictured below. (After reviewing the other example I could find, I agreed the below version was the better choice for a Grand Seal.)

However, to my knowledge, no Grand Seal existed for this square. I asked around the occult communities to see if anyone else had stumbled across (or created) one, but I received ZERO response to my queries. <SIGH> So that meant a new Seal was going to have to be created…

The problem is that the rules for creating such Seals range from the very simple to the very complex. (And the bigger the square, the deeper the complexity.) For example, the Grand Seal of the Khamea of Saturn (a small 3×3 square) simply traces the numbers consecutively from 1 to 9. At the other extreme, the Seals of large Khameas – like those of Mercury and Luna – are complete mysteries. No one knows how they were created.

Da Rules

I referred to Donald Tyson’s edition of the Three Books of Occult Philosophy, where he includes an appendix about magick squares – including an overview of the known rules for creating Grand Seals. In general, they are:

1) The lines of the Grand Seal should cover every cell in the square .

2) If the lines of the Seal can follow the numbers consecutively, they should do so.

3) Otherwise, the lines of the Seal should generally indicate where numbers have been transposed within the grid. (When creating the larger Khameas, you start with the numbers running in consecutive order – then begin transposing numbers until the magick square is created.)

4) Some of the lines of the Seal will terminate in small circles – the number of those circles often relates in some way to the greater Khamea. For example, the Grand Seal of Jupiter has a large “X” terminating in four small circles. Four is the number of Jupiter.

5) In some of the more complex Khameas, the shape of the Grand Seal itself may be symbolic. For example, you’ll note the Grand Seal of Luna contains a number of crescent shapes. It also seems important in many cases for the Seal to be symmetrical.

It is vital to note that absolutely none of these rules seem to apply to every Khamea. Some of the Grand Seals do not touch all the cells in the grid, other do not trace consecutive numbers nor link together transposed numbers. Others have shapes that do not seem to relate to their planetary force at all, nor are they symmetrical. Etc.

Regardless, I took the above rules to heart, and began to formulate a brand new Grand Seal for the 10×10 Khamea of Earth – which is pictured at the very top of this blog post.

My Method

Look at the numbers of the Khamea itself. On the first and tenth lines, the numbers in the four corners of the square (10, 1, 91, 100) have been inversed. The number 1 would have started in the lower-right corner, and 10 in the lower left. 91 would have started in the upper-right corner, and 100 would have occupied the last cell at the upper-left. These numbers have been switched with one another, therefore I marked the four corners of the Khamea with a large “X” terminating in small circles. (This central “X” seems to be common to the existing Khameas, as well, so it seemed like the right place to start.)

The next lines in – the second and ninth – also show transposed numbers at the beginning and end of each line: 11, 90, 20 and 81. These have been switched not only top to bottom, but also from one side to the other. I could not connect the cells on either end of the lines, but I could draw two vertical lines between these four cells from top to bottom – each terminating with small circles.

Back in the first line of the grid, you’ll note the numbers 92 and 99 have been switched – so I connected them with a horizontal line and small circles. The corresponding line at the bottom of the square actually connects two numbers (2 and 9) that have not been switched – but it seemed right to connect them in order to preserve the symmetry of the Seal.

Returning again to the second and ninth lines: Note I have two short horizontal squares/arcs, their small circles touching four numbers (14, 17, 87 and 84). These numbers have been switched from side to side and top to bottom. The arcs only indicate the side-to-side transposition.

And this brings us to the two vertical arcs on either side of the square. Their small circles rest on cells in lines three and eight. The four numbers in those cells (22, 79, 29 and 72) have also been switched from side to side and top to bottom. In this case, I have only marked the top-to-bottom switch.

That was the best I could do to indicate the transposed numbers and still keep the Seal symmetrical. However, it left certain squares untouched. I noted immediately that several of the untouched cells formed a circle around the center of the “X” – so I marked them with a larger circle.

The remaining untouched squares also formed a symmetrical pattern within the square – so I marked them with small lines branching off from the arcs. These do not indicate transposed numbers, so they do not terminate in small circles.

And, with that, I had created a Grand Seal that touches every single cell in the grid. It is perfectly symmetrical. And, to my surprise, it resulted in exactly 10 primary lines, terminating in 20 small circles (2 x 10) – thus relating directly to the sacred number of the Khamea itself.

I offer this Grand Seal of the Earth to those of you who are into magick squares, or those of you who would like to use this Seal in their talismanic magick. Ms. Page will be publishing it as the Seal of Earth/Auriel. Whether or not this sigil will withstand the test of time remains to be seen – feel free to experiment.